“Mum, I’ll be fine! Leave me alone!” Remus Lupin complained, fighting to release himself from the grip of his overprotective mother.

“What if they find out you’re a you-know-what?” his mother whispered to him frantically, her fingers grasping his shoulders so hard her knuckles were turning white.

“I’ll be fine,” he assured her once more, and his father swooped in to rescue him, pulling his mother away.

“Now, be good, you hear? Listen to Professor Dumbledore, he has everything planned out,” his father warned him. “Even one misstep could be catastrophic.”

Remus’ mother was sobbing by now, and he could feel the eyes of his peers boring into the back of his head. He felt his face growing red, and muttered angrily, “For goodness sakes, mum, I’ll be fine!”

“He’s right, Reggie, he’ll be absolutely fine,” his dad soothed the hysterical woman. He then looked up at Remus and said, “Now, hurry up or you’ll be late. The Express waits for no one.”

Remus nodded and turned to walk away, but was nearly tackled from behind by his mother, who wrapped her arms around him one last time and gave him a final squeeze before letting him go. Rolling his eyes, Remus lugged his bag to the train and hauled it to the first empty compartment he could find, heaving it up onto the luggage rack and taking a seat. After a few minutes, the train began to move, and as he watched his parents disappear from sight, he realized that his life would never again be the same.

“Oi, is it alright if I join you?” asked a boy who stood in the doorway of Remus’ compartment. He had messy black hair and brown eyes, and he wore round, black glasses. He held himself like one who had the utmost confidence in themselves.

“Sure,” Remus nodded, gesturing to the seat across from him.

“I’m James, by the way. James Potter, future Gryffindor.”

“Remus Lupin,” Remus replied, taking James’ extended hand and shaking it. “What makes you so sure that you’re going to be a Gryffindor?”

“My parents were both Gryffindors, and their parents before them, and their parents before them, and so on. We’re a whole family of Gryffindors.” James puffed his chest out as he said this, looking proud of his heritage. “What house do you think you’ll be in?”

“I’m not really sure... Probably Hufflepuff, knowing my luck.”

“Nah, you don’t seem like the Hufflepuff type,” James disagreed. “Maybe a Ravenclaw.”

“I could only hope,” Remus joked, smiling.

“Knock, knock,” said a voice from the doorway. James and Remus looked up and saw a boy with long black hair that reached his shoulders and grey eyes smiling down at them. “Can I join the party?”

“Sure,” said James, returning the smile. The boy sat down next to James, and James introduced him to Remus. “Remus, this is Sirius Black. Sirius, this is Remus Lupin.” Remus and Sirius shook hands while James continued. “I just met Sirius out on the platform before we boarded. He’s got some great ideas for making this year a little more interesting. You in, Remus?”

“Err...” Remus was taken aback. His parents hadn’t let him socialize with people very often after the “incident,” and he wasn’t exactly sure if he wanted to be involved with troublemaking his first year of Hogwarts. After all, Professor Dumbledore was going through a great deal of trouble to allow him to attend at all.

But this could be Remus’ one and only chance at making friends, and he didn’t want to let the opportunity to slip out of his reach.

Sirius was cut off by the clearing of a throat. The three boys looked up, and out of the corner of his eye Remus saw James’ jaw drop nearly to the ground. In the doorway stood a very pretty girl with long, flowing red hair and stunning green eyes.

“Hello, I’m Lilly Evans,” she introduced. “I was wondering if you’d seen my friend, Severus? We were supposed to meet up, but I can’t find him.”

“No, sorry,” Remus said kindly.

“But you can stay and sit with us, if you’d like?” James offered eagerly.

“Oh, no, I can’t. I have to find Severus,” Lilly refused, seemingly flustered by James’ enthusiasm.

“Too bad,” James said flirtatiously, and Lilly blushed madly before turning and walking away.

“We’ll let you know if we see him,” Sirius called after her before turning and grinning at James. “Does somebody have a crush?” he teased, and James punched him in the arm.

“She was really pretty,” Remus admitted, a smile tugging at his lips.

“All right, all right,” James growled. “We’ve got a long train ride ahead of us, and I’m not afraid to curse either of you.”

Sirius snorted. “Yeah, what curses do you know?”

“Lots,” James bragged, pulling out his wand. “My dad taught me a few spells. I know how to unlock locked doors, make my wand light up in the dark, and I know a special curse that makes someone’s head swell up as big as a pumpkin.”

“Let’s see it, then,” Sirius challenged, and Remus’ eyes widened.

“That sounds dangerous,” he chastised. “You shouldn’t—”

“Figures, we picked up a goody-two-shoes,” Sirius sighed.

“I’m not a goody-two-shoes,” Remus argued. “I just don’t think James should be doing spells that we haven’t learned yet in school.”

James and Sirius, and they nodded and said in unison, “Goody-two-shoes.”

“I am not!” Remus shouted, pulling out his wand and standing up. James and Sirius stared at him with mixed expressions of awe and fear.